FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr laid out a “road map” for actions he hopes the regulator will take this year on spectrum, during an American Enterprise Institute webinar Monday. He wants the FCC to finalize broadband maps this fall, suggesting it focus on relatively basic ones that could be finished more quickly. Until maps are completed, the FCC is “a bit stalled” on launching a Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Phase II or 5G Fund auction, he said: “Congress provided us a lot of funding … to get that job done. … Then if we want to add to those maps over time, we should.” Carr expects continuing problems and “tough calls” to make more federal spectrum available for wireless. He hopes “we end up with the right leadership to push forward.” Carr said that if the FCC returns to Communications Act Title II rules for net neutrality, 5G could suffer. “You may bless an individual use case, but you could cast doubt” on others, he said. The challenge in the 12 GHz band, the subject of a January NPRM (see 2101130067), is mainly “a technical one,” Carr said. “If we can get 5G terrestrial use in 12 and continue to get the public interest benefits that come from this new generation of low-earth orbit satellites, that’s great,” he said. “That’s what the engineering at this moment is sorting through.” Carr wants a federal lands desk at the FCC on siting issues: “There’s not a ton that we have authority to do with respect to federal lands,” but a desk “would at least give people on the outside a one-stop shop to bring their issues.” Complete work on the 6 GHz Further NPRM, allowing very low-power devices to operate at 14 dBm, Carr urged. Schedule a 2.5 GHz auction as soon as possible, he said, and launch a proceeding to look at updating rules for the U-NII-2C band (5470-5725 MHz). “Equipment manufacturers don’t even bother to include the band in many 5 GHz Wi-Fi devices.”

The FCC will likely move forward on a Further NPRM allowing very low-power use of the 6 GHz band outdoors without automated frequency coordination, said Alex Roytblat, Wi-Fi Alliance vice president-regulatory affairs, on an alliance webinar Thursday. Then-Chairman Ajit Pai declined to seek a vote before leaving in January (see 2012180057). Roytblat said the change in administrations slowed FCC work on the rulemaking, approved 5-0 in April (see 2004230059). Review “is ongoing,” and the agency recently asked additional questions about client-to-client devices (see 2102230056), Roytblat said. “They are moving forward,” he said. “Once the leadership at the FCC is stabilized, we hope that this would come back as a priority item.” Brazil allows such low-power operations, and the U.S. shouldn’t be “left behind,” he said. Alliance officials didn’t discuss the legal challenge to the rules (see 2102160082), which acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel mentioned last month when asked about the status (see 2102170049). Approaches on 6 GHz vary, with a few countries considering only licensed use, Roytblat said. In Europe, 500 MHz of 1,200 MHz is being offered for Wi-Fi, he said. Some countries are taking a “staged approach” waiting to make decisions beyond an initial 500 MHz, he said. Broadcom, Intel, MediaTek and Qualcomm chipsets and end-user devices are certified for Wi-Fi 6E, which uses the 6 GHz band, said Nick Sargologos, alliance senior product manager. Seven of 12 new routers premiered at January's CES use 6 GHz, he said. Smartphones, PCs and laptops with Wi-Fi 6E chips are expected to start shipping this quarter, he said, with TVs and virtual reality devices certified by midyear. The swath provides 160 MHz-wide channels, Sargologos said. Only two similarly wide channels are in 5 GHz, versus seven at 6 GHz, he said. He said all Wi-Fi 6E devices must work with earlier generations.

The Wireless ISP Association sought FCC action on bands, in a call with acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. WISPA asked the agency to wrap up work on the 6 GHz Further NPRM and schedule a single-round, sealed-bid auction for 2.5 GHz. “Move forward with the proposal to segment” the 5.9 GHz band and “allocate 45 megahertz for unlicensed use,” WISPA said in a Wednesday posting in 18-295 and other dockets. On the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, WISPA said the FCC should “rely on its experienced and knowledgeable staff to thoroughly review long-form applications to determine whether auction winners are ‘reasonably capable’ of meeting their performance obligations, and to resist efforts to pre-judge certain applicants or applications.”

The Wireless Infrastructure Association said the Wi-Fi Alliance will partner with the group at WIA’s Connectivity Expo conference, Aug. 3-6 in Boston. The alliance will offer a keynote update on Wi-Fi 6 and the 6 GHz band.

International Association of Fire Chiefs officials raised concerns over the FCC’s 4.9 GHz order in a call with Commissioner Nathan Simington. The FCC reallocated the band to the states with a 3-2 vote in September (see 2009300050). “Public safety utilizes the 4.9 GHz band to host broadband intranet networks, video camera networks, bomb disposal robot operations, and airborne public safety video operations,” the group said in a Monday posting in docket 07-114. It warned of interference to public safety from opening 6 GHz for unlicensed use.

Require “rigorous testing … to demonstrate that unlicensed devices can coexist with incumbent” 6 GHz licensees before allowing additional equipment certifications for unlicensed low-power indoor devices, utility and public safety groups urged an aide to acting FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. The groups asked the FCC to pause authorizations in January (see 2101270037). “Such testing should be conducted before more LPI devices … become commercially available, otherwise it will be extremely difficult to retrieve these devices from consumers,” they said in an ex parte posted Thursday in docket 18-295. The Utilities Technology Council, Edison Electric Institute, American Public Power Association, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, American Petroleum Institute, American Water Works Association, American Gas Association, National Public Safety Telecommunications Council, International Association of Fire Chiefs and APCO were on the call.

More Wi-Fi advocates defended the FCC's April 6 GHz order, in an amicus brief (in Pacer) Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in docket 20-1190. Commission "engineers spent years assessing technical analyses and arguments from parties on all sides,” said Apple, Broadcom, Cisco, Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intel, Microsoft, NCTA and the Wi-Fi Alliance. “The [6 GHz] Order embodies a careful, conservative decision, based on a massive technical record, to unlock the benefits of next-generation unlicensed technologies while protecting licensed users from harmful interference.”

Broadcom, Cisco, Facebook, Intel and Qualcomm proposed an FCC “compromise” for very-low-power portable operations throughout the 6 GHz band. They proposed that devices must meet an out-of-band emissions level of -37 dBm/MHz, measured by root mean square at 5925 MHz and prioritize operations in channels above 6105 MHz, said their filing posted Tuesday in docket 17-183.

Wi-Fi advocates defended the FCC’s April decision to allow unlicensed use of the 6 GHz band, in an amicus brief posted Tuesday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (in Pacer) in docket 20-1190. “The FCC has more than 30 years of experience managing unlicensed spectrum access, using rules and procedures similar to those" here, said Public Knowledge, the Benton Institute for Broadband & Society and New America Open Technology Institute. “The FCC has consistently and successfully nurtured the unlicensed ecosystem while protecting licensed services from harmful interference.”

6 GHz incumbents and Wi-Fi advocates clashed about a January notice from the Office of Engineering and Technology on whether the FCC should allow client-to-client device communications (see 2101110031), in comments posted through Tuesday in docket 18-295. The agency is considering more sweeping changes, based on a Further NPRM approved 5-0 in April. Shortly before the end of the Trump administration, OET sought comment on one additional change.